The games featured by the NBA's national broadcast partners usually are an echo of the previous season, at least early in a new campaign. The top teams from last year are the squads television execs think we most want to see and, by and large, they're probably right. However, the fun part of the early season for the hardcore NBA fan stems from seeing new faces in new places.

Whether it's prized rookies, newly-rich free agents or key characters in a big trade, we love to see how those new combinations work. With that in mind, let's focus on the rookies and get an early glimpse at which ones have been most valuable thus far. Here's are early rookie leaders in WARP (Wins Above Replacement Player), our key bottom-line metric for evaluating the value of a player's production:

Through last night, we've played the 80 games the NBA hasn't as part of Sim Season, our Strat-O-Matic simulation of the locked out 2011-12 season. We'll be doing this every day, so check back tomorrow for the results of tonight's action. You can follow me on Twitter for periodic updates on the action. Watch for the #simseason hashtag.

REMINDER: Strat-O-Matic veterans already know this, but the newest version of SOM's Computer Basketball Game (Version 9.0) was recently released. As it happens, our favorite gaming company is offering a discount for all you lockout-weary fans who want to run your own simulations. Or maybe you just want to match wits with a fellow hoops fan, no matter where in the world he/she may reside. All you have to do is go to this page to place an order. When you check out, just enter the discount code LOCKOUT to get 15% knocked off the listed price.

NOTE: The offer has been extended and now expires at 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 20. Enjoy!

SUNS 115, PACERS 99: Believe it or not, this was a matchup of first-place teams as both the Suns (4-1) and Pacers (3-2) are off to fast starts. Steve Nash got off to a fast start on Friday, scoring eight points in the first quarter as Phoenix grabbed the early lead. The Suns led by seven at the half after a second quarter duel between Phoenix's Aaron Brooks and Indiana's George Hill. Late in the third, Darren Collison's jumper drew the Pacers within six. Phoenix responded with an 11-1 run to establish its biggest lead of the contest. The Pacers answered with a 14-2 burst behind seven points from Hill. Nash snapped that run with a three and the Suns cruised down the stretch to their fifth win in six games. Nash had 16 points and 12 assists. Hill led Indiana with 18 points of the bench.

MAGIC 140, WIZARDS 94: The Wizards entered the game as the league's last winless team but were facing a tall task with a matchup in Orlando, against a Magic squad that had recovered from an 0-2 start to win three in a row. The Wizards led early before Brandon Bass and Dwight Howard went to work in the paint, leading a 37-10 run that stretched into the second quarter. You can kind of guess where things went from there. Washington trailed by as many as 48 points. Orlando set league season highs for margin of victory (46) and points (140). Howard had 43 points and 16 rebounds. The Magic shot 60 percent from the field and 14-of-25 from deep, with Jameer Nelson, J.J. Redick and Ryan Anderson each drilling three treys. There are always a lot of amazing stats in a game like this, but here's the one that jumps out: The Magic outscored Washington 64-22 in the paint.

76ERS 89, BUCKS 79: The Bucks entered the game a "strong" 2-3, at least once you factor in the quality of their opponents, and led early before their chronic offensive problems re-surfaced. Philly's 32-9 run was capped by Evan Turner's layup late in the first half, putting the Sixers up by 19. That was Philly's biggest lead, matched a few times later, and the Sixers led by double digits until the final minutes. Andre Iguodala led the way with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Andrew Bogut had 20 points, 15 boards and four blocks for the Bucks.

HAWKS 116, JAZZ 88: Both teams entered the game with just one win after struggling through difficult early schedules. The Hawks came out ready. After Utah scored the game's first four points, the Hawks pounded the ball inside, getting five buckets in the paint and three free throws during a 13-0 run. From there, Atlanta gradually increased the lead and eventually led by as many as 37 in the fourth quarter. The Jazz scored the last eight points of the game to make the score at least somewhat more palatable. Al Horford led Atlanta with 22 points and 11 rebounds. The standout line for Utah was a negative one: Starting two-guard Gordon Hayward scored only one point in 29 minutes.

CELTICS 96, CLIPPERS 87: The Clippers' results have been all over the map early in the season. Friday's game started out with the Good Clippers, who got eight points each from Mo Williams and Eric Gordon to lead 30-19 after the first period. The Celtics scored the first six points of the second quarter--four by rookie JaJuan Johnson--and closed within three on Ray Allen's layup late in the half. Boston's Big Four keyed a 13-2 start to the second half. The Clippers avoided a blowout, but didn't seriously threaten down the stretch as the Celtics improved to 4-1. Rajon Rondo had 11 points, four rebounds, 11 assists and five steals for Boston. In his first significant contribution, Johnson had those four points, six rebounds and a pair of steals. Despite the fast start, Gordon shot just 5-of-20 for the Clippers.

HEAT 104, NETS 90: The surprising Nets entered with a 3-1 record and were steeled for a stern South Beach test. After dropping its opener, the Heat had reeled off four straight wins by frightful scores. Could the Nets hang close? It didn't look like it early when Mike Bibby's three-pointer capped a 12-2 burst for Miami and left the Heat with a 14-point first-quarter advantage. Miami increased the lead to 18 in the second period but the Nets reeled off nine straight, a run that culminated in Brook Lopez's And-1 three-point play early in the third. Lopez continued to pound Miami inside--he scored 13 in the third--and, lo and behold, the Nets grabbed the lead. LeBron James' free throw at the third-period gun put the Heat up by a point entering the final period. The Nets hung close until a 7-0 Heat surge midway through the fourth was capped by James Jones' three-pointer. Miami pulled away down the stretch to improve to 5-1. James had 36 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Miami. Lopez scored 30 for New Jersey.

TIMBERWOLVES 113, KINGS 88: The Timberwolves, off to a nice start, were in position to really get the home fans jazzed, with the lowly Kings coming into the Target Center. Of course, this is exactly the kind of game that trips up young, overachieving teams. It was a tight first half, with Minnesota leading by a deuce at the break despite DeMarcus Cousins' 16 points. Minnesota pushed the lead to 11 and led by nine entering the final quarter. Finally, Anthony Randolph scored three times during a 14-5 Minnesota run in the fourth. The T-Wolves outscored Sacramento 56-33 in the second half. Look who's over .500: Minny is 3-2 on the young season. Kevin Love led the way with 25 points and 15 boards, but Randolph was the spark with 18 points, 11 boards, three assists and four steals in just 23 minutes off the bench.

WARRIORS 103 HORNETS 99: Golden State was playing its second game without injured point guard Stephen Curry, not the position at which you want to be thin when you're facing Chris Paul. With Charles Jenkins, Dorell Wright and Monta Ellis picking up Curry's slack, Golden State enjoyed a comfortable first-half lead, though the score (39-34) was indicative of the kind of pace favored by Hornets coach Monty Williams. David West scored three times during a 10-2 third quarter run that gave New Orleans the lead. The Warriors bounced back and Vladimir Radmanovic's buzzer-beating three put Golden State up by four entering the fourth quarter. The Warriors increased the lead to nine as Jenkins, a rookie, did his best Curry impression with a three to give his squad a nine-point bulge. Jenkins score twice more a little later to put Golden State up by 12. He scored 16 points in the first half of the fourth quarter alone. The Hornets hung close behind Paul and West, but Ellis' free throw with 17 seconds left clinched the Golden State win. Jenkins scored 27 points on 10-of-11 shooting in 22 minutes off the bench and hit all four of his three-point attempts. West led all scorers with 34.

GRIZZLIES 108, MAVERICKS 105: Would these teams have met in last spring's Western Conference Finals if Rudy Gay had not been injured for the Grizzlies? We'll never know, but entering Friday's game, both teams were playing well after slow starts. Memphis was playing without injured forward Zach Randolph, taking some of the luster off the matchup. As they did last season without Gay, the Grizzlies stepped it up with a key piece missing and led midway through the second quarter. This despite an early onslaught by Dirk Nowitzki, who had 23 points in the game's first 17 minutes. Memphis built a 10-point lead before Jason Kidd's three-pointer capped the first-half scoring. Memphis still led by 10 with 4:11 to go in the third before Dallas got five buckets by five different players to tie the game. Kidd's three to start the fourth capped another run, this one nine points, putting Dallas up by eight. Memphis was undeterred, regaining the lead a few minutes later on Mike Conley's fastbreak bucket and free throw. The game was tied with 2:50 remaining when Gay scored on consecutive possessions to put Memphis up by four. Kidd hit another three, this one with just 14 seconds left, to pull Dallas within a point. Marc Gasol hit two free throws with four seconds left and Dallas couldn't get another a shot off. Conley, Gasol and Gay all scored over 20 points for Memphis. Nowitzki did the heavy lifting for Dallas with 42 points, which included a 21-of-21 performance from the foul line. Shane Battier started in Randolph's place as Lionel Hollins opted for a smaller lineup. Battier responded with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes.

LAKERS 116, NUGGETS 102: The marquee game of the night saw the league's last unbeaten team in Denver heading to the Staples Center to face the powerful Lakers in what would have been the featured late game on ESPN. The fun started early, with Denver going on a 10-0 run to go up by eight and L.A. answering with a seven-point run of its own. The Nuggets went ahead by as many as nine in the second quarter but Derek Fisher's three brought the Lakers within two at the break. It was nip-and-tuck through the third before Ty Lawson's three capped a 9-2 burst for Denver. Matt Barnes opened the fourth quarter scoring with a hoop, tying the game, and capped a six-point run with a layup to put the Lakers up by five. Los Angeles pulled away from there, leading by as many as 15 down the stretch, and dealt Denver its first defeat of the season. The Lakers outscored the Nuggets 41-25 in the fourth quarter. Kobe Bryant led the way with 34 points and Pau Gasol added 32. Lawson scored 27 on 9-of-12 shooting for Denver.

GLOSSARY+/- (Plus-Minus) Raw data is from official box scores from NBA.com.GR (Game Rating) Reflects a player's Points Created total, or the portion of his team's offense for which he gets credit based on his box score line. This number is then adjusted for estimated defensive performance based on box score counterpart productivity. GR is pace-adjusted so you can compare players from game to game.PCP (Points Created Per Possession Used) An estimate of each player's points created per possession used, a measure of offensive efficiency. The stat accounts for a player's entire box score line, not just the scoring categories.PLY% (Play percentage) An estimate of the percentage of a team's possessions on which the player was on the court.USG An estimate of how many of those plays a player used by shooting, going to the line or committing a turnover, with a portion the team's offensive rebound total subtracted.TEAM STATS
PACE: Estimated possessions in the game.
ORTG: A team's points per 100 possessions.
eFG%: Team's shooting percentage with an extra half-point added for each made three-point field goal.
oRB%: Percentage of a team's misses that they retrieved off the offensive glass.
TO%: Percentage of a team's possessions resulting in a turnover.
FTA%: Percentage of a team's possessions resulting in a trip to the foul line.

Bradford Doolittle is an author of Basketball Prospectus.
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The Jimmer seems to be absent from your rookie WARP list. Is there some kind of cut-off for minutes played or something? I mean, I wish that if you just ignored Mormons they would go away, but that seems not to have worked so far.